The adoption of conference rules of procedure

The principles behind the adoption, by conferences, of their rules of procedure have generated very little debate at conferences, nor have they generated much academic discussion. This is remarkable as the issues involved touch on some fundamental principles of international law, including the process of formation of custom, treaty-making procedure and the role of tacit consent.

The independence of an international conference

An international conference of plenipotentiaries, unless it is a subsidiary organ of an international organisation, is an independent body. ‘No existing agency has the power to lay down rules of procedure or determine the competence and organisation of conferences in general.’ The Secretary-General of a conference convened by the League of Nations informed a delegation that:

Rosenne writes that: ‘The experience of the Convention on the Status of Refugees suggests that a Resolution of the General Assembly, whatever its persuasive value, cannot bind an ad hoc diplomatic conference, which has an autonomous existence of its own and is, in the words of a representative of the Secretary-General, a “sovereign body”.’ A recent comment on this issue is that “the relationship with the international organization does not prevent such conferences of disposing freely, and in an autonomous and final way, of the task entrusted to them”.